


In a Cage

by Canadiantardis



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 2P, Alternate Universe - Human, Attempted Kidnapping, Child Abuse, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Childhood Sweethearts, Choking, Dark, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Family Reunions, Forced Prostitution, Gen, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Interrogation, Kidnapping, Kinda, M/M, Minor Character Death, Muteness, Nightmares, Not really sure if its graphic violence but it might be, Rape, Rescue Missions, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, Sorry Not Sorry, Underage Prostitution, Violence, Well as happy as it can get
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-03-20 14:11:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 21
Words: 20,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3653352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emil never even knew his brother for all 13 years of his life. Carlos hasn't been able to play hockey with his friend for 11 years. Kiku never told his friend he liked him when he last saw him 8 years ago. Berwald saw his best friend disappear from his life over a year ago.</p>
<p>//Heavily inspired by Chelamine's story 'Broken Brothers and Faded Dreams'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

Matthew couldn’t breathe. They weren’t letting him breathe. He scrambled to find any way to get even a gasp of air into his deprived lungs but they were too strong for him.

Just as his vision was going dark, the hands let go of his throat and he fell to his side, gasping for air and curling up. He didn’t understand what he did to be punished. He never tried to do anything that would make them mad, afraid of just what happened.

He heard footsteps march away from his prone body, and the soft padding of a benevolent presence and heard Lukas whisper to him, lightly touching his arm to see if he could help Matthew up.

Holding a hand over his neck, he looked up to the older teen through watering eyes and accepted the help. He stumbled as he stood and had to lean on the eighteen year old until he was able to stand on his own. Lukas was patient and careful, helping Matthew to the room where the others were to sit on his cot, shushing the others’ questions.

“You okay, Mattie?” Lukas asked in a whisper. “You can breathe properly now, right?”

Matthew nodded and twitched at the pain his neck gave him. He didn’t think he’d be able to speak for a while until most of the pain was gone.

“Do you know why he punished you?” Alfred came forward, sitting beside Lukas and Matthew.

He shook his head minutely, leaning against the wall his cot was against.

Both boys shared a worried look before looking back at Matthew, whose eyes were falling, his body slumping in exhaustion. Lukas stood, telling Alfred to let Matthew rest in peace. Matthew smiled internally as he lay on his side, facing the wall and fell asleep, listening to the noises of the house and the murmur of Alfred and Lukas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lukas watched the poor boy finally even out his breathing before turning to Alfred.

“You’re sure, Alf?” He asked.

The teen wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Yes, it makes the most sense. Mattie would never do anything to incur the wrath of _him_ , we all know that. He’s too nice, even after all the shit they did to him. He knows what not to do, and never does them.”

“Hm, that’s true, but why would he just choke Mattie for no reason?” Lukas couldn’t wrap his head around Mattie being hurt for no real reason, unless it was for _that_ but it would never be out in the open.

“Maybe it’s because he hadn’t gotten into trouble for so long?” Alf voiced a little hesitantly.

Lukas hoped not, but with them, it wasn’t very certain because they could change at the drop of the hat. After knowing them for most of his life, Lukas knew better than any of the others, including Mattie, who had been around just a couple years later.

Just as Lukas was about to speak, the door creaked open and the teens awake looked up apprehensively.

“Time to eat, kiddies.” Loki smiled cruelly at them, eyeing each teen before focusing on Mattie asleep. “Wake up Sleeping Beauty over there if he wants to eat tomorrow.”

With that, he turned on his heel, leaving the door ajar. Lukas turned to Alf and told him to go ahead with Tino. The two got up and headed out, Alf looking back to Mattie and Lukas concerned.

Lukas sighed and gently tapped Mattie’s shoulder, and the teen jerked awake, twisting around to press his back into the wall. He relaxed visibly when his eyes focused on Lukas, looking up at him curiously.

“Time to eat, Mattie. Loki said you had to wake up if you want to eat tomorrow.” Lukas offered his hand to Mattie again, helping him up and walking with him out the door.

Even with very little rest, Mattie was looking better. He was breathing better and his face wasn’t as red as it had been half an hour ago, but he still wouldn’t speak.

The two descended the stairs and got to the dining table, where the other two teens sat with hands on their laps, with _them_ , besides Loki who was putting the food on the table, just about to serve.

“Took you long enough! We weren’t gunna wait forever, you know.” Allan smirked at Mattie’s neck, which was turning black and blue from the bruising force _he_ was known to inflict.

“Sorry, sir.” Lukas whispered, sitting between Mattie and Tino, the frightened new teen who jumped at anything and everything that moved towards him.

“Whatever.”

Loki served everyone the meal, meatless spaghetti because Allan was against eating meat. The group ate silently, the four teens focusing on eating, not looking up to the five adults eating with them.

Where the teens were silent, the adults were loud and rowdy, joking and yelling even though there was no need to shout.

“So, what do we need to do tomorrow?” Loki asked the others.

Lukas chanced a glance up and saw the other adults looking over the teens hungrily and he lost his appetite, but had to force himself to eat or else Loki or one the others wouldn’t let him eat for a full day. He had to eat anything he got, even when he didn’t want to, because it could be the last meal he gets. His stomached turned horribly with the thoughts of what they had planned for them tomorrow and with eating food he really didn’t want to eat.

“We haven’t had a day sharing all together in months.” Allan remarked, and the others murmured in agreement.

“Let’s fix that, shall we?” _He_ said with a cruel smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kiku sighed, watching his two friends bicker and argue about their relationship for possibly the tenth time in the past hour alone.

“We are not dating, you idiot! Why do you keep saying we are?” Ludwig sounded exasperated as he repeated himself.

“Because it’s really obvious we are?” Feliciano replied, looking like it was the most common reason in the world. “Even Kiku agrees with me.”

The short teen’s eyes widened as his friends turned to him.

“Is Feli telling the truth? Even you think we’re dating?” Ludwig asked in a way that meant no way around it.

“Why do I have to always be put in the middle of this?” He asked, trying to divert the conversation anyway.

“Because you always take my side in this, right, Kiku?” Feliciano cried, wrapping his arms briefly around Kiku overdramatically.

“Ugh, I’m not saying. I don’t want to be on either side on this. Be whatever you want to be, but please, guys, figure it out soon.” Kiku escaped as he saw the familiar of his older brother walking by.

The two didn’t talk at all as they walked home, Kiku’s brother barely realizing he was even by his side because he barely looked anywhere and his music was so loud, people in China would probably could hear it perfectly as well. It allowed the sixteen year old time to think.

He thought about his two friends and the daily fight they have had since they went into grade 9.

_I wonder what it’s like to have someone you’d want to spend so long with._ Kiku thought, before his head decided to think of a deep buried memory of a boy he knew when he had been young. A boy with bright blond hair and deep blue eyes that reminded Kiku of a cloudless, sunny day.

Kiku shook his head violently, afraid of where that train of thought would lead him, as he and his brother reached their home. He refused to think about him again, it always hurt his heart because they had never been able to find him in all the eight years he’s been missing.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Well, plot bunnies are persistent.  
> As I said before, this story is heavily, heavily inspired by 'Broken Brothers and Faded Dreams'. I got the idea from that story, and you should all read it for the major feels.  
> I think my sadist side is feeling hungry, I haven't tried to do anything too bad since Summer Vacation. Even my Harry Potter Fanfic isn't sating it.


	2. II

Alfred had to clench his jaw before he said something he’d regret, trying to ignore the leers and sneers the adults were giving his friends and him. He hated it, and he really hated that he couldn’t do anything about it. He just kept chewing on the tasteless pasta–seriously, who had pasta without meatballs or some kind of meat?–and keeping his head down.

It wasn’t until everyone had finished eating when Al and the others were allowed to get up and prepare for sleep. The boys obeyed without a word and after an hour, the four were wearing their bland sleepwear and lying on their shared cots, Lukas with Mattie, Al with Tino. They had come up with this system because there weren’t enough beds, and sleeping with someone helped keep the nightmares at bay.

The next morning came all too soon, with Loki yelling in the room for everyone to wake up. Tino started to shake and no matter who tried to comfort the poor boy, he wouldn’t stop. Even soothing Lukas couldn’t calm the boy down, and soon the other three just had to ignore him and get ready.

Loki was outside the door, waiting for the teens to escort them to one of two bathrooms, where Allan was there to take over watching over the boys as they took turns to shower and go through the morning ritual.

Being one of the last ones to shower, Al kept glancing at Tino, noticing he was slowly relaxing, which made Al happy.

They were all done, and were told to go downstairs for breakfast before anything happens. The other adults were there, already munching on cereal and toast.

All too soon, breakfast was over and Al couldn’t help but notice the look of hunger the men had when they looked at him and the other teens. He hated days like this. He hated when he and the others were put into different rooms and the men took turns going in and ‘seeing’ them. They were all rough and it always hurt for a week after, _at least._

Loki took Lukas by the arm and dragged him from the kitchen, and Allan took Mattie off to another room. Birk looked bored as he grabbed hold of Tino’s wrist and tugged him upstairs, leaving the last two adults alone with Alfred.

The teen shrunk inside of himself as both men grabbed his arms and pulled him into the basement of the house. Hain might be sadistic with how he treats the teens, but  _He_ was much worse. _He_ was violent to whoever he was playing with, and loved seeing the boys cry because of the harm he gives them. _He_ doesn’t permanently harm them, because, as the others say ‘it’ll be too much of a hassle to hide the evidence or to find a replacement.’

Al didn’t know how much time past before he was dropped on the cold floor while the two men went upstairs to switch with another. Al took this time to assess how his body was, feeling bruises all over, his face sticky with sweat and other fluids, and his backside giving a slight ache.

 _I guess_ he _wasn’t going as hard as he normally does._ Al thought as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked up to see Allan walking slowly, already ready for his fun with Alfred.

Allan was kinder than the other two, but not by much. He was at least kind enough to make it more comfortable for both of them at first.

After Allan, Birk had his fun, and Al retreated inside himself at that point, not remembering what happened with Birk or when Loki came downstairs last.

The teen came back to earth when a hand slapped his face. He groaned and blearily–the sticky stuff had fallen into his eyes–looked up to see Loki smirking at him.

“I think it’s time for you and the others to clean up, huh?” He yanked Al up and half-dragged him up the stairs quickly.

He was brought to the second bathroom and saw an equally as used Mattie sitting in the tub already. They both sat there quietly as Loki and Hain cleaned them up without protest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlos shook his head to stay awake.

School was killer and it didn’t help he was in almost four different sports as well. He had to keep his grades high or else he’d be kicked from all his sports, and then where would he be?

He looked over his homework once more. It was a short essay for his English class that he procrastinated to do until the night before it was due. At least it was only a page long, he could do it.

Carlos almost sighed in relief when his phone rang, grateful for any distractions.

He picked it up and looked through the text. It was his cousin, Michelle, asking about the quarter finals for hockey. He quickly replied the details, how the school team was going to cream their opponents in two weeks.

Carlos stood up and stretched, looking at his phone for the time.

“Fuck.” He whispered, seeing it was just after midnight.

Knowing he was going to be up for a long while, Carlos padded from his room to the kitchen, careful of not waking his family as he made himself some strong coffee and took out the pint of ice cream to snack on while he waited for the coffee to be finished.

As he snacked on the ice cream, he thought of the hockey team he had been a part of. He had been in hockey since he was six, when a friend introduced the sport to him. He just wished his friend was still on the team, but after a half year of being on the same team, Carlos hadn’t seen his friend.

“Mattie.” Carlos jumped when he realized he had said that out loud. He hated thinking of his childhood friend, it brought back too many memories.

That was why he kept to playing hockey, to keep Mattie’s memory. Even when the kid had been five, he was better than some ten year olds playing hockey.

Carlos sighed, putting the ice cream away and grabbing the now cooling coffee and walking sullenly back to his room. He knew it was now a worthless effort, all his energy left him as his mind kept rounding back to Mattie, until he just decided to bullshit his entire essay before going to bed.

He fell on his bed, looking over at the picture on his bedside table. It was an old thing, a day at the park in the middle of summer. There were two kids making goofy faces at the camera, ice cream all over their faces and Carlos sleepily smiled at his younger self for giving the other boy bunny ears. The other boy, a boy with long wavy hair and circular glasses too large for his face, just stuck out his tongue as he waved a sticky hand at the camera.

As Carlos fell asleep, he wondered if Mattie was okay, if he was even alive. It had been almost eleven years since he was kidnapped, he could be dead for all they knew.

He slept, having nightmares of his childhood friend.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hain: 2p Finland  
> Birk: 2p Sweden  
> Loki: 2p Norway  
> Allan: 2p America
> 
> Author's notes: I cannot bring myself to even try to write the actual action sooo...  
> Oh yea, the names for the 2ps are up here if you forget who's who. Still not gunna tell who "He" is yet. But you're welcome to guess who it might be.  
> See ya next time~


	3. III

_“Ber! Run!” Tino screamed at his friend as he struggled from the grip of the dark blond man but couldn’t._

_He watched as his best friend gave a pained look and bolted from where he was, turning the corner, and Tino had his friend’s back burned into his memory. The other man took off after his friend, but after several minutes, by which time Tino had been shoved into the trunk of the dark beat up car, he came back with nothing, saying Tino’s friend seemed to have disappeared._

_“The little shit was fast, Hain.” The man said._

_Tino was crying in relief as he shouted and tried to kick the trunk open to no avail, hearing the two men get into the car and driving away._

Tino cried out, waking up in a sweat. The nightmares were always the same, and he cuddled closer to Alfred for some sort of reassurance. His entire body still hurt from yesterday’s activities and the nightmare didn’t help.

Alf wrapped an arm around Tino, half-asleep. He mumbled and tugged Tino to him like a protective older brother.

He knew he had to fall back asleep, he knew he had to work tomorrow, but he kept seeing Ber running away. He missed him, but wouldn’t have ever wanted him to be with him here. He was happy Ber had escaped, but wished he had been able to escape with him.

Finally, Tino fell into a fitful sleep, jerking awake when Allan came yelling. He hated Allan. He hated the other adults too. He wanted them all to die.

They weren’t able to shower in the morning, told to eat and prepare for work.

“Except for you, Tino.” Hain smiled cruelly at the 13 year old.

The other teens looked over at Tino worriedly, and despite his best efforts, Tino started to shake. He knew what not working meant, and he was terrified.

 _He_ got up and smirked at each teen as they flinched when he pat their shoulders before resting a hand on Tino’s head.

“Today is a business day, remember boys.” _He_ reminded them, carding his hand through Tino’s hair in mock affection. “Listen to what the people want, and do it without complaint.”

His hand clutched Tino’s hair suddenly and pulled the young teen up, Tino whimpering, hands in fists by his side.

“It’s my day to teach him, so I’ll be off.” He called, dragging Tino off with him to what the adults called the ‘Training Room.’

Once shut in, Tino was thrown onto the bed, where he quickly sat up, hands on his lap, head down in total submission. He trembled as _He_ locked the door, turning towards him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emil woke up to his alarm clock blaring from his bedside table. He groaned and whacked it off, slowly getting up.

He quickly changed into his school uniform and left his room, heading to the kitchen for some quick breakfast. His parents were both gone, having to work really long hours to keep the small three bedroom house and to support Emil going to his school. Ever since he started Middle School, he barely saw his parents, which made him a little sad. He didn’t like how he was always alone in the morning, and would only see them late at night.

He quickly ate his toast and grabbed the lunch his mom had made him before she had gone off to work as a maid for rich snobs. His dad left a note by the lunch wishing him a good day at school. His dad worked as an engineer for a big fancy company, and had asked to work more hours than most to earn money, at least until his boss gives him a raise.

Emil checked his schoolbag, making sure he had all his homework in his bag as he left the house, locking the door behind him.

As he neared the school, he saw a friendly face hanging by school gates. He hurried to his friend, waving once he reached him.

“Hey, Berwald.” He gave a small smile that quickly disappeared when he saw his friend was in one of his depressive moods.

Berwald was mute, and very few people could understand what he was trying to show. Emil and him used to be friends with someone who was always able to tell what Berwald was trying to say, but one day he stopped coming to school and his other friend wasn’t intelligible whenever Emil asked him where Tino was.

It had been over a year ago, steadily creeping to two years since Emil saw his friend, and from Berwald’s actions, whatever happened wasn’t good.

“Come on, Berwald. Let’s, uh, get inside. Don’t want to be late for class?” Emil felt useless when his mute friend went depressed.

His friend nodded, following Emil into the school and into their first period class. They were lucky to have all but two classes together. If the teacher ever wanted to call on Berwald, Emil was there to translate, being the only one who actually understood him now.

School was finally over, and Emil and Berwald quickly left the school, walking to the park that was the middle point for both their houses.

“I should hurry home. Mom said she was going to be home early, and they’ll get mental if they don’t find me at home.” Emil told his friend, walking backwards to wave at his friend, who waved back half-heartedly.

Emil didn’t think much about it as he ran home, unlocking the door and putting away his sweater before heading to the kitchen to start some of his homework.

After about half an hour Emil felt like the house was too quiet. He didn’t understand why they had such a big house for such a small family. Only two bedrooms were ever used, and the last time Emil went into the unused room, it was flooded with boxes as if they had just moved in or something. He had tried to ask his parents but they always got teary and really sad and Emil just had to change the topic whenever that happened. But he had no one else to ask, so his curiosity was burning with conflict. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t want his parents to act so melancholic, so he just kept his questions to himself.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Even when I try, the nordics must know each other. I originally planned to have them not know each other, but then realized while looking at the ages of my characters, that Tino and Emil are about the same age.  
> So, yeah, reminder: Hain-2p Finland, Birk-2p Sweden, Loki-2p Norway, Allan-2p America.  
> See ya next time~


	4. IV

Matthew drew deep into himself as the men and women came and left him with Alfred and Lukas. Lukas had been the one to tell him about this method of retreating, and it helped the poor teen’s sanity just a smidge.

Finally the working hours were done and the last woman left, breathless as she gave the rest of her payment to Hain. The three teens panted, exhausted and trying not to move too much. Matthew felt even more breathless, still not completely better from the punishment _He_ gave him.

They were allowed to shower, and despite them all wincing from hurts scattered on their bodies, they got everything off them as fast as they possibly. Matthew was thankful he didn’t have to wait too long since Alfred was using the other shower while Lukas took the first one.

* * *

 

Matthew sat between Tino and Lukas in the car. After their rest, the adults had told them they were going to move again.

Tino was shivering. Matthew realized this was going to be the first time he was moving with them without being locked up in the trunk, and bumped his shoulder lightly. He twisted around to see Alfred in the seat behind them, sitting next to Loki and Allan while Hain and Birk sat in the front, Birk driving. _He_ was driving alone in the smaller car to get to the new place before the others and set up the teens’ room. All four teens were very happy to know _He_ wasn’t going to be driving with them. Out of the adults, the teens had to agree they were terrified of _Him_.

Matthew yawned, leaning against Lukas’ shoulder and soon fell asleep.

He woke up when they stopped for the night, apparently halfway to their destination. Allan gave each teen a small container of cold soup, and everyone ate quickly before being allowed to fall asleep for the night. They made the seats flatten and Alfred joined them to sleep all together for warmth and comfort.

Matthew didn’t like the travelling. He was always hopeful that maybe their captors will slip up and they’ll get caught and they’d finally be saved, but after nothing happening since he was 5, he was starting to doubt that would ever work.

He fell into a light sleep, blissfully not dreaming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Berwald coughed into his sleeve, the most noise he ever makes with his mouth. He knew he was coming down with a cold, but he had to go to school for a project explanation. So, before he left for school, he took a bottle of cold medicine to try to get better.

As he left the apartment, his mom gave him a hug and wished him well. She didn’t have to leave for work for another hour, but also couldn’t walk with Berwald to school.

Berwald left for school, walking quickly and looking around everywhere. Ever since _that day_ Berwald was suspicious of anyone that he didn’t know, always thinking he would see that scary blond man chasing him. Even when he was with Emil, his now only friend, he still didn’t trust either of them being safe until they both made it home.

As he walked, he thought back to _that day_ , and seeing his face, his scared face with tears filling up his eyes as Berwald turned to run. He should have done something. He should have been better at explaining with his sign language or wrote it down, but both methods of communication were sloppy and hard to understand.

 _No,_ he thought, turning the corner and seeing the school just up ahead. _If I had done anything besides run, I would have been caught too._

He shook his head, coughing as he reached the school. He waited by the gates for Emil, who always got to school much later than he did. When his friend had finally shown up, they both didn’t speak but walked quickly inside before the bell rang for first period.

As soon as they sat down, Berwald took out a piece of paper and started to draw. He left his mind blank and barely listened in class. He didn’t need to, it was all super easy things he had taught himself when he was a few years younger.

Emil looked over, sitting right next to Berwald, and tapped the desk to get his friend’s attention.

Berwald looked up, tilting his head slightly as his eyes met Emil’s. Emil looked worried before signing a name that Berwald made for each of his friends so it was easier to call attention to. He swiped his hands over his mouth to show a smile before using the American Sign Language hand symbol for T, Berwald’s sign for Tino. Emil then pointed to the paper, and Berwald looked down, taken aback that he had been drawing Emil. It was pretty crude, but both boys could tell who it was by the rough traces of the head and hair. What worried Emil was the drawing had Berwald’s last image of Tino almost two years ago. It worried Berwald as well, so he quickly crumpled the paper, stuffing it in his binder just as the bell rang. Emil looked like he wanted to ask something, but Berwald bolted to his next class. He wanted to forget what he had drawn, and if Emil asked any questions, he wasn’t going to be able to answer like every other time his friend tried.

Berwald spent the rest of the morning avoiding Emil. But he knew he would have to talk to his friend sometime today.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: There are large cars/vans that seat 8 people, right? I think so... So whatever car that looks like, that's the car to think of.  
> I'm also reading and rereading my story like 5 times to make sure it doesn't get too close to "Broken Brothers" because holy shit, when I got that message I nearly had a heart attack.  
> Anyway, I hope it makes sense with Berwald. With the whole thing about his speech, I decided to just cut it away completely. But then with names, I distantly remember learning that people who use sign language use creative ways to say a name or something along those lines. Is that true? I hope it is...  
> Hopefully by next week, I'll be able to post a chapter a week. School is nearly finished, and once it's May, I do plan on posting my final project up on here(well, my final project was a short story and I wrote about 30 pages, and I'm so proud of it). So look forward to that if you like my writing!  
> I will see ya later~


	5. V

They got to the new place the next day, just as the sun was setting. It was a large house, more of a cottage than a house. It was in the middle of a well-known forest with few houses around it. Matthew felt like they wouldn’t be leaving this new place for a while, since it was so out of the way.

The other car was already parked in the driveway, with _Him_ leaning against it.

Matthew shuddered as he saw _Him_ push off the car as the van slowed in front of the driveway. The man was very tall, well over 6 feet. When Matthew first saw, a few hours before he had been kidnapped, he had thought the man looked like a lumberjack with his flannel shirts and really big muscles. He had lanky sandy blond hair he always held in a tie until he decided to cut it. His eyes, though, were scary, a piercing dark violet that always looked cruel.

Compared to him, the others weren’t so bad. Allan was just as tall, but he had a more mischievous face. He always dyed his hair dark colours, but Matthew knew he was actually a light blond underneath all the dark red hair dye. He had a chipped tooth from a failed but infamous escape attempt made by Lukas and Matthew. Whenever he had one or the other, he liked biting them with that tooth predominantly, which was sharp enough to pierce skin. He had brownish-red eyes that were almost always hidden by sunglasses.

Loki was shorter than the other two by about half a foot, but made up for it with sadistic nature. Matthew was always nervous around him, and Lukas hated him because he was the one who kidnapped him. He had bright blond hair that almost looked bleached, but he would beat anyone who asks him about his hair, and dark blue eyes. Matthew was slightly afraid of him, because of his unpredictable moods and reactions.

Hain, if he were taller, would be as terrifying as _Him_ , but he was the shortest adult. He wasn’t much of a threat with his height, but he was just as violent as _He_ was. He had almost light brown hair, or very dark blond hair and almost reddish eyes that scared Matthew if he stared at him.

Matthew didn’t know much about Birk, even after being forced to know him for years. He didn’t really talk much, and mostly kept with Hain. He had light blond hair and dark eyes that seemed to stare into Matthew’s soul whenever he was caught in Birk’s view.

Matthew helped Lukas with bringing some things inside the house when the adults told them to. As the teens began moving the boxes inside, Matthew saw the adults were discussing something.

 _Most likely work._ He shuddered. He hated working. But it was the only job Matthew knew how to do, since he was 12.

“Alright, everything’s inside. Don’t unpack everything just yet, boys.” Allan called. “It’s too late for that, you’ll start tomorrow.”

The teens slumped forward in relief for a second. With nothing to do, they unconsciously stood next to each other for comfort from years of hating to be alone around the men.

“Your new room is upstairs, last door.” _He_ told them, and that was their cue to leave and sleep.

Lukas led the way to the room, and found it was the same as every other house they were forced in. It was the smallest with a couple cots at the back of the room, with a small closet for their sparse wardrobe.

Alfred flopped on the farthest bed from the door with a groan, pulling the closest person down with him, which was Matthew. Matthew gasped and fell completely on the other teen.

“Oof.” Alfred groaned again, this time in mock pain. “Mattie, why you gotta be so heavy?”

“It’s not Mattie’s fault you pulled him on you.” Lukas rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t know he was gunna _fall_ on me.” Alfred stuck his tongue at the oldest teen.

Matthew sighed and rolled off Alfred. The four teens sat on the one cot, not yet wanting to go to bed.

“Mattie, why haven’t you spoken since… Then?” Tino whispered, startling the older teens.

Matthew had hoped the others wouldn’t have noticed his unwillingness to speak, but sighed when Alfred and Lukas turned to look from Tino to him.

“He…” Matthew swallowed, trying to keep his voice at a whisper. “He doesn’t like my voice.”

His head fell forward, his bangs blocking his face from the others. He didn’t want to see them, or let them see him.

The three were silent for about a full minute before Lukas hesitantly spoke up.

“Is… Is that why he… He did that?”

Matthew felt his neck lightly, still sore even though it had been half a week since that day. He nodded, keeping his gaze on his lap. The others were silent, before he felt small arms wrap around him, followed by two other pairs of arms, and he was in the middle of a big hug. He hadn’t even realized he was crying until he felt tears run down the sides of his nose, dripping and landing on the small blond head of Tino. He leant forward and rested his cheek on Tino’s head, giving in to the hugs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Lukas tried to scream for help, but found his mouth was occupied by another, larger mouth. He couldn’t see since whoever was forcing his mouth on him put a blindfold on him._

_He didn’t like this; he didn’t understand what was going on. His muffled screams were cut short when the other person wrapped a hand around his thin neck, applying pressure until he felt like he couldn’t breathe._

_Lukas whimpered and went silent, trying to use his other senses to know what was going on, but they didn’t seem to help. He was on something that felt like a bed, and it felt like a grownups bed, much bigger than what he slept on at home._

_The mouth soon left Lukas’ mouth, but felt the lips trail down his chin and onto his neck. He jumped, trying to shy away because he was very ticklish around his neck, but the lips turned into teeth and he stilled again._

_Fat tears started leaking from the blindfold as Lukas started to cry in fear. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his new baby brother and his mommy and daddy._

_He sobbed loudly until a hand slapped him across the cheek and a loud voice ordering him to be quiet. Lukas tried to move a hand to his cheek, but realized his hands were being held above him._

_He felt fingers skitter across his stomach and felt the fingers move lower until…_

Lukas gasped, sitting up and startling Mattie half-awake. Without thinking, he shushed the younger teen back to sleep, lying beside him carefully. He took short, quick breaths to try to calm him down, but the memory was there every time he blinked.

It didn’t matter how long ago it was, every night Lukas – and he was certain the others had the same dreams – relived certain days way back when, or even events that happen the same day, particularly nights after working.

Finally his heart and breathing calmed enough to let Lukas relax and wrap an arm around Mattie for both comfort and protection.

After what felt like forever, Lukas was finally able to doze, happy to not dream again.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2p norway: Loki  
> 2p finland: Hain  
> 2p america: Allan  
> 2p sweden: Birk
> 
> Author's notes: So, if you can't guess who /He/ is, then this chapter went right over your head. I tried to be very obvious about it, and realized I never explained how they looked, soooo, yea. Sorry if it seemed strange, just wanted to write what the 2ps look like.  
> See ya later~


	6. VI

Tino jumped when a hand tapped his shoulder during breakfast the next day, head snapping to see Lukas looking at him carefully.

“How old are you, Tino?” He asked, stunning Tino with the strangeness and suddenness of the question.

“Uh… Thirteen?” He answered in a way it sounded like a question while Lukas nodded.

“You would be the same age…” He mumbled, a sadness hidden deep in his eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Tino asked the oldest teen.

Lukas seemed to realize he spoke aloud and looked at his cereal. “Nothing, just thinking. I… I think I had a brother about your age, but I can’t even remember his name.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?” Tino felt a pang of sadness for Lukas. It reminded him of his friend’s family. Ber’s mom had had a baby after him, but only a year later the baby died from some sickness they hadn’t noticed until it was too late.

Lukas chuckled. “I think he’d look very different now. But, I think he had eyes like Mattie, though maybe darker. I remember having that thought when I first saw Mattie anyway. And he had really light hair, or he had when it finally grew.”

His eyes grew sad. “I never even got to know about my own brother, and I doubt I ever will know him, even if I do somehow…” He trailed off, knowing that was a bad topic to touch when they were anywhere near the adults.

Tino was silent, thinking. He felt like the bare description Lukas gave him was familiar, but couldn’t place it.

“He also had the best day for a birthday.” Lukas drew Tino out of his thoughts. “He was born the day of this annual fair where I used to live. I think it was just called the Annual Festive Fair of the place, held in like June. I think it was June 17?”

“I have a friend born on that day too.” Tino remarked, thinking of his other close friend. “His name’s Emil and he and our friends would go to a fair too on that day.”

“Emil?” Tino saw Lukas’ eyes glaze in thought but stayed silent.

They didn’t speak much after that because they were split up again for training and working. The thoughts the two might have had about that conversation were run over by the fear and hiding of the rest of the day.

Tino’s stomach turned as he lay on the bed, sweat and semen sticking to his body. Since he had turned thirteen, the adults have been training him more and more, and he knew he would soon be joining the older teens in working. He knew what working was, had heard the horror stories when he was first kidnapped from Lukas and Mattie.

Hain returned to the bed, Tino minutely freezing in fear before forcing himself to relax. The older man looked over the boy and smirked.

“I think we’re finally done training you.”

Tino’s blood went cold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kiku was hiding from his friends again.

They were getting more persistent in asking him to go in between them and side with one over the other. It was driving him insane.

He could distantly hear Feliciano’s voice down the hallway and walked quickly to the cafeteria, a place the Italian would never dare step in.

Kiku wasn’t paying much attention when he walked right into someone.

“Oof, huh?” “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t looking.”

Kiku looked at the person, a tall girl who looked familiar.

“Oh, I’ve seen you before. You’re Luddy’s friend, right?” She asked, pulling her long brown hair behind her back.

“Uh, hai. And you are…?” Kiku felt like the name was on the tip of his tongue but couldn’t remember.

“Elizabeta. Call me Lizzy.” Kiku then remembered her. Lizzy was Ludwig’s cousin, a senior along with Kiku’s and Ludwig’s brothers. He had seen her a few times before, mostly around her boyfriend and Ludwig’s older brother.

“Oh, right. Sorry, Lizzy.” Kiku said, looking behind him to the door of the cafeteria.

“It’s alright, hun. But, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you look like you’re hiding from someone?” Lizzy asked with a smile.

“Your cousin and our other friend are being a problem.” Kiku muttered.

“They still haven’t agreed their dating?” Kiku snapped his head back to Lizzy in surprise. “What? Like it’s not obvious.”

“Well, tell that to Ludwig.” Kiku sighed, fidgeting from one foot to the other.

“Oh, I have, and so has everyone in the family. He’s just a hardass and won’t admit it. I’ve been planning on just locking those two in a closet…” Lizzy trailed off, looking at Kiku with a spark in her eyes. “Hey, wanna help with that? I’m sure they’ll stop pestering you if they finally accept it.”

The teenager thought about it quickly, weighing the pros and cons, before ultimately nodding.

Lizzy beamed down at Kiku and grabbed his wrist, pulling him out of the cafeteria. They first spent a couple minutes finding the two, and when they did, they snuck up behind the unsuspecting duo, Lizzy going after her cousin and Kiku surprising Feli, and all but dragged them into a janitor’s closet.

“Let us out of here now!” Ludwig shouted, banging against the door that both Lizzy and Kiku had to lean against to keep shut.

“Not until you dummkopfs finally talk and realize your relationship.” Lizzy replied. “We aren’t letting you out, no matter what.”

Kiku heard grumbling and the pounding on the door lessened. The two holding the door closed sighed and slid down the door to sitting positions. They could hear muttering and muffled speech from the other side of the door, but couldn’t make out what was being said.

It was quiet for a long time, both sides keeping low voices before they heard Feli exclaim.

“Finally!” He cried and then it was quiet inside the room. Lizzy and Kiku looked at each other before standing up, opening the door to the janitor’s closest.

Both smiled when they saw the two kissing before Kiku blushed and looked away.

_At least I won’t have to be in the middle of that fight anymore._ Kiku thought with a small smile on his face as the bell for fourth period rang.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Hopefully by next week, since school is almost done by then, I'll be able to post more chapters sooner.  
> See ya next time!


	7. VII

Emil walked quietly to school, a little withdrawn. His head was buzzing with so much information he didn’t know what to do.

The day of the drawing incident with Berwald was a day of impossible learning, but not from the classes he had.

When he had finally cornered Berwald after school, literally trapping him under the stairs, he had waited patiently for his only friend to explain why he had drawn Tino with such a pained expression. Of all the years he had known the small sandy blond boy, Tino had never given such an expression, or even a sad expression.

Berwald signed shakily, and it took a few tries for Emil to fully understand what his friend was trying to tell him. When the words finally sunk in, Emil had slid to the ground in shock, unable to process anything else.

But as quickly as his shock came, frustration and anger took hold.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” He shouted at Berwald, who shrunk back. “If you had told me earlier we could’ve… We could have…”

His anger faded as he saw his friend sign gibberish, shaking so badly Emil couldn’t keep his anger.

“Look, we still need to call the cops. Do _they_ even know?” He asked, his voice soft.

Berwald shook his head, and Emil nearly smacked his head with his hand. _Of course he wouldn’t have told them, he could barely have the teachers understand him._

“Then we need to call the cops and fucking tell them!” Emil strode away, hearing the squeak of Berwald’s shoes following him.

After they had called, Emil was told they would need to go to the station to talk to some officers who were normally in charge of these kinds of things. The boys agreed and were picked up at the school, Emil and Berwald texting their parents about the situation. Or rather, Emil texting both of their parents because Berwald still didn’t own a cell phone.

The cops who picked them up introduced themselves as Officers Kastiel and Toris. Toris was very nice to the two boys but Kastiel didn’t speak a word, keeping an eye on the road as he drove to the station.

When they finally got to the police station, the two officers escorted them to Officer Toris’ desk to talk.

“So, boys, would you be able to explain to us what you told on the phone?” He asked, a small notebook in his hand with a pen in the other.

Emil glanced over at Berwald, who was looking down, before turning back and nodding to the adults.

“A little over a year ago our friend was, uh, kidnapped. Berwald was there but he hadn’t told anybody because, well.” Emil searched for the right word, glancing back at his friend.

Berwald signed it was okay to say anything about his communication skills, so Emil continued. “He doesn’t have the best way of telling people.”

“What do you mean?” Toris looked between the kids.

“Well, you see, he’s mute and has crap sign language that only me and Tino were able to figure out. And don’t get me started on his handwriting.” Emil coughed. Neither boy noticed the flash in Kastiel’s eyes when he had said his friend’s name.

“Why hadn’t you told the police earlier?” Toris put down his pen and leant forward with a frown. “This might be very hard, with your friend having disappeared over a year ago. Can you tell us his full name?”

“Tino Väinämöinen.” Emil said, spelling out the last name before Toris could ask.

Kastiel went to his own desk, to the right of Toris, and started up his computer to look through the database for the kid’s name at Toris’ request.

“Do you have any other information about your friend that could help us? You said he was there at the time?” He nodded at Berwald.

“Yes, uh, he was.” Emil looked over, waiting for his friend to reply.

Berwald glanced around nervously before slowly signing, looking only at Emil to know when he understood.

Emil watched carefully as he interpreted what Berwald signed.

“Uhm, okay, so he and Tino were walking home from school. It was a Friday and they were going through a shortcut to get to Tino’s home. They, uh, hadn’t noticed a car approach them until, uh, two men came out of the car and grabbed Tino.” His eyes left Berwald’s hands in disbelief. “Why did you never try to tell me this before?”

His friend looked worried, and signed it was because he didn’t know what to do. Emil’s face softened a bit and nodded.

“Okay, okay. Just continue.” He said and started to interpret again. “So, they grabbed Tino and he had told Berwald to run just as the second man came running after him. He gave chase for a few minutes but Berwald hid well enough the man couldn’t find him. He tried to get back to where the car had been, but it was gone, along with Tino and both their bags.” He squinted at Berwald. “That’s why you had a new bag on Monday?”

Berwald nodded, and stopped signing.

“Could you tell us what the car looked like, Berwald? Or what the men looked like?” Toris asked, scribbling fiercely in the notebook.

Emil’s friend took a few moments to answer, nodding uncertainly.

“He says it was a big car, almost, uh, rusted? Some kind of brown or red colour, anyway.” Emil told the officers, but only one was listening. “One man was huge with, uh, blond hair? Short hair, I think. And really dark eyes. That was the man that chased him. The other man was shorter with either… Blond or brown hair, right? Okay, something like that. He didn’t get a good look at the two in the face, and he said it all went by really quickly for him to remember much.”

Emil saw Officer Kastiel stiffen slightly, but only thought it was because of what he was looking for on the computer. Toris continued to write, nodding.

“Is that everything? Nothing else to help us with, boys?” He asked them, and Emil turned to Berwald. The teen shook his head. Toris sighed and stood up. “Thank you boys, we will contact your parents if we have any information for you. Just give us your names so we know who to contact.”

“Okay. He’s Berwald Oxenstierna and I’m Emil Steilsson.” He told them.

Toris paused, a half-smile frozen on his lips as he carefully looked at Emil before turning to Kastiel.

“Wasn’t that the last name of that cold case years ago?” He muttered, but it was loud enough for Emil to hear. “Who was the case for again?”

“A child kidnapping. The mother filed it with her second husband’s last name, Steilsson. Kid’s name was something like Luke or similar.” Kastiel grunted.

Emil’s eyes squinted as he tried to understand what the officers were saying, but before he could ask, Toris turned back to the teens and walked them out of the station, noticing their parents waiting outside.

“Ah, hello. Sorry for wait. We just had to make sure we had all the information.” He told the parents and smiled sympathetically at them. “We will be in contact if we find anything.”

“Thank you.” Emil said as the officer turned around and returned to the station.

Chapter done!


	8. VIII

Lukas willed his eyes to stop the tears trying to escape from the corners of his eyes, but it hurt so much. It hurt so much it was taking all his concentration to not cry out. If he cried out he would be punished.

He had been bought for a day with a middle age couple. He was stuck with them, to do whatever they wanted and they were both sadists.

They had rented a motel room and had done it in possibly every inch of the room. Currently they were on the floor, Lukas spread before the couple as they decided to test his endurance.

Lukas let out a whimper as they pushed farther, a single tear rolling down. He turned away so they wouldn’t notice, and luckily they were too involved in what they were doing to notice the traitorous tear.

Finally, they withdrew the toys, looking at Lukas like wild dogs would look at their prey. They continued until the sun began to set and began cleaning themselves up, leaving Lukas covered in who-knew-what on the bed.

Loki was the one to pick him up, and Lukas could tell he was happy with his performance again. He was helped out of the room, much to his discomfort. Like the other boys, he hated when adults touched him, especially the five he had been surrounded with most of his life. It was worse because he was sensitive to everything after the ordeal the couple put him through. He could barely walk properly.

Loki buckled him into the car, and soon they were driving away, back to the house. Along the way, Loki chatted one-sidedly about how good Lukas had been that the couple was booking more days, saying ‘it spiced up their love life’ or some other shit. Lukas barely paid attention, trying to retreat inside himself to recover.

Lukas knew he should have been used to all day rentals, but they were always mentally taxing since he couldn’t retreat as well for all day, only for a couple hours at a time.

They returned and Loki ordered him to the shower. He did so gratefully; relieved he was finally going to get rid of whatever was sticking to him everywhere.

Mattie and Tino were in the bedroom, a single sheet of paper and a pencil lying between them, the paper filled with what Lukas thought were numbers.

“Okay, now you try these.” Tino took the pencil and wrote some numbers down before giving the pencil to Mattie. “What’s this one?”

“Uh, one hundred minus thirteen?” Mattie stared at the paper intensely, his eyebrows forming a bridge. “Uh, ninety… No, Eighty eight? No, that’s not right. Ugh.”

“You’re doing really well, though, Mattie. Don’t get mad.” Tino had his fingers a hairs breadth from Mattie’s arm in encouragement before looking up at Lukas. “Hey Lukas. How are you?”

Lukas grimaced. “Better after a shower. What are you two doing? Where’s Alf?”

Tino and Mattie paused and gave each other a look before looking at Lukas. “Well, Tino’s helping me learn math. There wasn’t much else to do for us today since no one wanted to rent us for the day, so they let us stay in here. And, well…”

Mattie trailed off, looking at Tino, who fidgeted. “Alf might’ve done… Something to… Land him in…”

Lukas raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. He didn’t need to hear where Alf was anymore. He shuddered before sitting opposite of the two.

“How long?” He asked.

“Until morning. He’s been there since he returned early, maybe a little after two this afternoon?” Mattie replied quietly before turning the paper to Tino. “Is this it?”

Tino looked at the paper and smiled. “Yep, you got them! Soon you’ll be able to do multiplication and division.”

Mattie groaned softly. “But those sound hard.”

“Actually those are pretty easy once you know addition and subtraction, Mattie.”

“Why are you teaching Mattie how to do math?” Lukas asked.

“He’s been wanting to learn for a while, but since Alf doesn’t know much about it himself, he asked me.” Tino responded.

“It’s like being in school, I guess. I mean, I can barely read, and I want to pass the time doing something, I dunno.” Mattie shrugged. “Educational? I just want to learn something I never got to learn.”

Lukas nodded. He understood how it felt not to know simple things most kids his age would know very well. He and Mattie had both been taken before they were able to go to school; the closest was going to pre K.

He settled more comfortably, thinking this would be the best way to forget what he had gone through for the day.

“Hey, think you can teach me too, Tino?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alfred couldn’t move, even if he wanted to.

He was tied up, his legs and arms stretched out on the four ends of the bed post. His mouth was taped closed until they decided when he should be able to use his mouth, normally when they wanted his mouth to be busy with their cocks.

He hadn’t meant to. He really hadn’t meant to do what he had done, but of course the adults never believed him.

He had accidently made his renter dissatisfied with his performance and gave him back halfway through the day, and since he had gotten back he had been bound for the adults to relieve their aggression, normally leaving Alfred’s body black and blue and covered in fluids.

And he was trapped in the room until morning, which was still at least twelve hours from now.

He flinched when the door opened again, desperately trying to stop the tears from falling that he had allowed when he was alone. He squinted and his stomach turned to lead seeing _Him_ walking in, his pants already half off as he shut the door.

He took two steps before he was already at the edge of the bed, and he stood on it, literally towering over Alfred.

“You stupid slut. I would have thought you had learned your lesson by now.” He suddenly bent forward, his hand shoving Alfred’s stomach down with bruising force until the strain on his arms and legs caused him to cry out from behind the tape. He struck Alfred across the cheek at the sound.

“I guess you haven’t, then?” He smiled as Alfred felt like his head had been split open. “Maybe by morning you’ll learn? Or will it take longer?”

He sat on Alfred’s chest, driving all the air he had gotten out of his lungs, and mockingly caressed Alfred’s cheek, right where he had hit him. As he did so, he grabbed the end of tape and before Alfred could blink ripped the tape off his mouth. He silently screamed, his voice already gone from when the other adults had ‘taught’ him.

Alfred closed his eyes, squeezing them shut and wishing this was all a horrible nightmare until he felt nails squeeze his cheeks, prying his mouth open when something was forced into his mouth.

“This should help teach you, slut.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Well then.  
> Sorry for taking so long to update again. Summer finally started, so I finally got time to write this.  
> I had almost forgotten that Lukas and Matthew would most likely not know a lot, like reading or writing or even math, so that's how the first part of this chapter spawned. And even tho I didn't write it all that much, Mattie is still speaking really quietly because of everything before.  
> Eh, anyway, I'll see ya next chapter~


	9. IX

Carlos zoned out as his History teacher started to talk about the Industrial Revolution, something all his history teachers went about way too often. He just doodled in his notebook, making little figures before they started playing hockey.

He wanted to get back on the ice. He had finally agreed with Michelle on looking for one team to stay on and quit the others to lighten the load. Since Carlos only cared about hockey out of the sports he played for, he quit the others, soccer, football and swimming. His coaches all understood and respected his decisions, wishing him luck for the quarter finals.

Finally the lunch bell rang and Carlos packed his things, distantly registering the teacher telling everyone there was going to be a test next week and she’d have the notes up on her website until the morning of the test.

He got to his locker and grabbed his lunch money, heading to the cafeteria.

He hadn’t been eating for long with his cousin and friends when he saw a familiar figure run into an older student. He wracked his memory to place the figure before recognizing the shrimp as the Japanese transfer student. All Carlos knew about him was that he was in a couple of his classes and had transferred with his family during the last year of middle school from across the country.

Carlos wondered why the shrimp was in the cafeteria in the first place, since he never saw him or his brother set foot in the room.

“So, are you excited or not?” Michelle asked, snapping Carlos’ attention back to the table.

There were vigorous nods and cries of hell yes, and Carlos nodded as he took a bite of his lunch. His cousin was a big fan of hockey and seemed to be more excited about the upcoming game than any of his fellow teammates.

“Who are you playing against?” Michelle’s friend, Lucille, asked curiously.

The girls began gossiping about the upcoming game as Carlos zoned out of the conversation.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: I'm really sorry this chapter is so short. But next chapter should be longer. ~('.')~


	10. X

When Loki’s stepbrother had called to talk about something important, he was insulted they hadn’t believed him at first.

“Are you serious?” Hain asked the cop.

“Why would I fuck with you about these kinds of things?” Kastiel crossed his arms. “And I was there for when the brats _told_ my partner, and when you two came back with only the one kid.”

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the closed door, as if seeing the brats doing whatever they did on days off.

“But, you’re positive this was the same damned brat Birk let slip away? And he’s only coming forward now?” Hain spoke slowly, throwing a dirty look at Birk as he did.

“Yes, for the last fucking time. He and a friend of both brats were with my partner and I and told us everything they knew.” Kastiel rolled his eyes. “Did you know he’s a mute?”

“A mute?” Birk frowned in thought.

“Yeah, and has fucking piss poor communication skills. Only the other brat can understand what the hell he’s saying, not even Tor could understand him.”

“What about that friend of his?” Loki asked, speaking up for the first time since Kastiel arrived to the house. “You said there was something interesting about him?”

“Oh, this is the kicker, I gotta tell you.” Kastiel smirked. “Apparently he’s the younger brother of the oldest slut.”

His smirk grew when the others’ eyebrows rose, although Loki only quirked an eyebrow.

“You don’t say?” Loki leant forward, resting his chin on his intertwined fingers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tino was frozen in shock against the door where several of the adults were talking. He had been passing by the door when he heard the newcomer, apparently a relative of Loki’s, talk about a mute, and his blood drained as he heard more.

Looking around himself, he carefully found a more hidden spot to listen in on the conversation, but missed what was said until he heard a voice.

“You don’t say?” He heard Loki say in a way that made Tino almost shudder.

There was a bit of a pause, and Tino’s mind raced. What were they doing, and why were they talking about his friends? He couldn’t understand.

“You thinking the same as I am?” Hain spoke and Tino could hear the wicked smile he most likely had on.

The adults in the room started to talk all at once, and when Tino tried to hear better, he heard the footsteps of Allan approaching and fled the hallway, heading to the bedroom where Mattie sat with loose paper and a pencil in front of him.

Mattie didn’t notice him until he rubbed his eyes and stretched, and he nearly fell backwards in surprise. In most cases, Tino would’ve at least smiled, but after hearing what he had heard, he didn’t react, he just sat across from Mattie without saying a word. Mattie looked like he was about to speak but didn’t. It was starting to get harder for Mattie to speak now, since the day the others had found out about why He had punished Mattie all those weeks ago.

It was only when Alf came into the room that there was sound besides the scritch-scratch of the pencil on paper.

“Watcha doing?” He asked the two curiously.

Mattie just showed the paper before going back on the questions, while Tino continued to stay silent.

“Tino?”

“Hm?” Tino snapped back to reality.

“You okay? Nothing happened today, right?” He asked.

“Uh, no. It’s nothing, nothing happened, yeah.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kastiel-2p Iceland  
> All the others you know well enough now, right?
> 
> Author's notes: Sorry for taking so long for this chapter. :s Writer's block hit me and I wanted to write for all my stories I'm in the middle of writing, but at the same time I had no idea what to do. So I also have to say sorry for how short this chapter is.  
> Hopefully next chapter will be easier to write, since I'm picking it up. I do already know how to end it, and have it written, but I just need to connect the dots and freaking write so much. Bluh. :P  
> Anyway, see ya!


	11. XI

“Hey, Kas, you sure you got it?” Toris asked his partner from his desk, typing on his computer.

“Yes, I told you a million times, man.” Kas replied, frowning at Toris.

“But he told us it was for both of us, so neither of us don’t strain ourselves, remember?” He paused with his typing to look at Kas.

“And I told _you_ that I can handle this case by myself. I don’t have any other big case, and it won’t cause me strain. And besides, you have that girl of yours to go home to. I’m good by myself.”

“I don’t have any big cases besides that one either, Kas. And Feli wouldn’t mind if I help out with the case. That’s what we promised the boys, wasn’t it? That we both would do our best to find their friend?”

Kas groaned before glaring at his partner. “I got this case; you really shouldn’t care about it. It’ll most likely go cold because all the possible leads are gone because it’s been so long since the kid was kidnapped. Who knows if he’s even alive?”

“Don’t say that, Kastiel.” Toris’s frown grew into a grimace. “Don’t look at it so pessimistically. He must be alive. We should have faith, at least for the boys hoping to see their friend again.”

Kas groaned again before swinging around to face Toris fully. “Why can’t I take the case by myself? What would it take to get you to not be on the case? I really want to try this alone.”

Toris paused, thinking. “Well, not off the case, but I won’t be with you as much. As long as I get to help with something, even if its small, I’d want to help, but you could do everything else. Is that good enough for you?”

Kas grumbled before nodding. “Yeah, it’s an okay compromise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lukas woke early, feeling strange. It took him a few minutes to realize why, and when he realized the reason, he bolted up.

Mattie wasn’t in the cot with him, and he wasn’t in the room. Looking around the room, he noticed another worrisome thing. Alf wasn’t here as well.

_Where the hell are they? Where could they have gone?_ He thought as he looked around the room, careful not to wake Tino as the boy curled up tighter on his cot.

Knowing he couldn’t leave the room, he sat on his cot, worry tying his stomach in knots. The men never took any of them in the morning, before wakeup, he knew that for years.

Not knowing what to do, Lukas decided he would try to rest a bit with Tino, and crawled into Tino’s cot, wrapping his arm around the young teen.

Lukas didn’t rest at all, and just waited for Tino to wake up. When he did, he seemed just as surprised that Alf and Mattie were missing as he was.

It wasn’t until Allan opened the door did they find out what happened.

“Sorry for not waking you two.” He smiled at them as they walked out the room. “But seems like a few of our more persistent customers wanted a full midnight-to-midnight day with those two together, for quite a good chuck of money, too.”

The two were silent, glancing at each other worriedly as they set off to the bathroom. Lukas silently hoped the two would be okay for the day, and they’d come back more or less fine.

He was so in his head, he hadn’t even realized the time, and before he knew it, it was time to work.

There were less people today because Mattie and Alf were gone, but Lukas and Tino still had to entertain many customers throughout the day. Lukas had seen a couple take Tino into one of the guest rooms for a quickie, as were the rules allowed in the house, before finally the sun started to set, and the customers started to leave.

“Good job boys. Even with just two, you both brought in quite a lot of money.” Allan clapped Tino on the shoulder while giving Lukas a lecherous look.

The two teens winced minutely, before they were allowed to leave to the bathroom.

* * *

 

The two blonds returned a little after midnight, red, black and blue marks all over their bodies. Mattie seemed to have trouble breathing, and Alf was just dead quiet, which worried both Lukas and Tino. The two said nothing when they returned to the room, and just curled up around the other and fell asleep, leaving Lukas and Tino awake and wondering what they had been through.

The next morning was just as silent. Tino had tried asking what happened to them, but it was as if the two had lost the ability to speak. Mattie would open and close his mouth like a fish, and Alf would just look through Tino as if he wasn’t even there.

After breakfast, the adults had allowed the teens to walk around in the backyard for some fresh air since it was a day off.

“Okay, you two, come here.” Lukas sat down by the only tree in the yard, patting the ground next to him. Once the others were seated, he gave them a look to start talking.

“Can we not? _Please?_ ” Alf whispered, giving a pained look.

Mattie wouldn’t even look up from his lap.

“I’ve told you two the worst horror stories that have happened to me, and I’m the oldest.” Lukas said. “Tell me. What did they do?”

Mattie and Alf gave each other a quick look before they looked at their laps again.

“It, uh, well, it started out okay. The usual. Toys, sex, playing. But then they…” Alf rubbed his throat as he spoke. “They got more aggressive. They have really dangerous fetishes. They really liked the breath play with Mattie…”

Alf trailed off, and Lukas was glad he did. He and Tino were very pale as they listened to Alf speak quickly and quietly, something that never really happened often. It spooked them, if they were honest.

“We can’t even remember what happened after they started to do that, but I don’t think we really want to.” Alf glanced at Mattie again quickly.

Lukas never realized how small both teens were until that moment. He suddenly remembered when both were brought into the room he had been trapped in. He saw the five year old Mattie, hair wild and knotted and red faced from crying so much, and then he saw Alf, trying to look brave and angry but really being frightened.

He didn’t know what came over him, but Lukas gently sat next to Alf and drew him to him, making the sixteen year old lean his head against his chest as he rocked him, laying his cheek on the top of his head.

He saw from the corner of his eyes that Tino was trying to copy him, but being much smaller than Mattie, he ended up just hugging him comfortingly.

They stayed that way for about an hour, doing nothing but comforting the two teens.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Feli is not Italy. She is Felictya, aka Nyo Poland, just fyi. Also, isn't Toris so nice? He really cares for the kids.  
> Sorry for taking so long to update this story... :s I'd just look at the Word doc and not think of anything to write for a really long time. :p  
> Anyway, I will see ya later!


	12. XII

Kiku smiled at his friends from across the table before going back to his homework he had forgotten about, taking a sip of water. He was nearly done when someone tapped on his shoulder.

Curious, he turned around to see a hulking teen with dreads and a curious look on his face.

“Sorry if I’m bothering you, uhh… Kick you?”

Kiku’s eyebrows disappeared beneath his bangs at the attempt of getting his name right before chuckling.

“Uh, it’s Kiku, good try, though. Uhm, do I know you?” He asked the large teen.

“Oh, I think we have a few classes together, ‘m Carlos. Carlos Machado.” The teen stuck out his hand and Kiku took it carefully, wincing at the strong grip. “But that’s not what I was coming to you for.”

He looked behind Kiku to his friends before lowering his voice. “Is it possible to talk somewhere else?”

Kiku nodded before quickly telling the others he would be right back. The two found a quiet corridor when Carlos turned to Kiku, wringing his hands slightly.

“Uhm, I don’t really know how else to ask this, but I remember a project we had to do on a childhood friend, and yours…” He stopped moving his hands to look at Kiku carefully. “Yours was really similar to mine, although we had different names.”

Kiku nodded slowly, confused, not sure where the conversation was going.

“Do you know the Bonnefoys?” Carlos suddenly asked, making Kiku blink at him in confusion.

“I, uh, no. Should I?”

Carlos chuckled, seemingly relaxing for some unknown reason. “Maybe? I don’t really know. But they had this boy named Matthew, an adopted boy that sounds exactly like that, uh, Fred kid you talked about. Blond hair, blue-purple eyes, small for his age. Really liked sports.”

“Yeah, maybe?” Kiku still couldn’t understand what the large teen was trying to talk to him about.

“Do you know what happened to your friend?”

Kiku blinked, before biting his lip, shifting his gaze to look at his shoes before shaking his head.

“Something, uh, something happened when we were eight, and I haven’t seen him since.” Kiku said.

“Oh. Okay. Cause something happened when Matt and I were kids too and I haven’t seen him in about a decade.”

“Why?”

Carlos shrugged. “I don’t really know. He just disappeared one day, and no one knows where he is, not even his family.”

“Hmm.” Kiku didn’t say anything else.

The two stood there silently for a few moments before Carlos shook his head.

“Sorry for bothering you again, Kiku, I just thought it was interesting both our friends looked alike.” Carlos rubbed the back of his neck before walking away, leaving Kiku alone in confused silence.

He walked back to his friends, wondering about what Carlos had wanted. He seemed to have been really interested in knowing about Alfred, or maybe it was just the friend he had had, Matt.

He tried to remember back when his family lived near Alfred’s, and vaguely remembered a story Alfred’s mother told both of them one day, about how when Alfred was born, they were so poor they couldn’t have more than one child at the time. Kiku couldn’t remember much about the story, but felt like that little tidbit had been important.

“Earth to Kiku! Come in Kiku.” The teen jumped when he saw a hand wave in front of his face, frowning at Feli slightly.

“Yes?” He asked.

“The bell just rang. Are you going to pack up and come with us or are you planning to be late for the first time ever?” He asked with a cheery smile.

“Oh, hai.” Kiku rushed to pack his lunch up – sadly half eaten since he didn’t have enough time to eat with Carlos coming to talk to him – and walked with his friends to his locker for the next class.

* * *

 

After school was finally over, Kiku decided he was going to make a call to Alfred’s family, as the conversation with Carlos had been picking at his mind for hours.

He waved to Feli and Ludwig before walking quickly home, grateful his parents were still working and his brother wouldn’t be home for another hour. He came home and quickly went searching for an old phonebook from when they lived in Alfred’s state, finding it under a cabinet.

It took a while to find the right number, but eventually Kiku found the Kirkland’s, and soon started dialing the numbers.

It took a couple rings before Kiku heard an answer.

“The Kirkland residence.”

“Uhm, hello, is this Arthur?” Kiku had almost forgotten Alfred’s father’s name and was pleased to have remembered it.

“Yes, and may I ask who this might be? I do not recognize the area code.” Arthur asked, and Kiku could hear the phone being shuffled around.

“This is Kiku, Honda Kiku. I was-”

“Ah, Kiku.” Arthur interrupted, sounding pleased. “It’s been a long time since I had heard from you. How are you?”

“Fine, sir. I was, uh, I was wondering if you could help me with something.” Kiku bit his lip as he waited for Arthur to answer.

“Of course. What would you like help with?” Alfred’s father asked.

“Did Alfred have a sibling? Besides Peter?” There was a pregnant silence over the line.

Just as Kiku was afraid Arthur had hung up or the line had gone down, Arthur answered.

“Why are you asking?” He sounded hesitant and wary.

“There… was a classmate who had told me he had had a friend who was identical to Alfred but had, uhm, disappeared a couple years before Alfred did. He thought that Alfred was his friend.” Kiku explained, cringing at how bad it sounded.

There was another long pause before Arthur responded. “I… I think he did have a brother. Francine and I were expecting twins when Alfred was born, and we had worried we weren’t going to survive and be able to raise two newborns where we lived.” He spoke honestly. “So we had decided the youngest would stay with us and the oldest be put up for adoption. It ripped our hearts out at the decision but it was the only way we could live and have the boys live good lives.”

“Do you know where the boy had been given to? Er, I mean, do you know who adopted him?” Kiku asked, shaking his head at how bad his English still got.

“Not too sure. We might have…” Arthur’s voice trailed off and Kiku wondered what was going on at his end.

“Arthur, sir?”

“Ah, yes, sorry, Kiku. I just started thinking about him and couldn’t stop. You know.” Kiku’s eyes fell to his shoes as he frowned.

“Hai.” It was happening more and more, like every year since Arthur and Francine had told him what happened.

“Anyway, I do not know as of this moment who has the oldest, but the child you heard of could have been the twin. I don’t know, Kiku.” Arthur said.

“Hm, okay. Thank you, Arthur.” Kiku thanked and the two hung up, just as his brother came through the door.

“Why are you here so early?” Yao asked, eyebrows raised. “You normally stay with your friends for a while before getting home.”

“No reason. Just, uh, wanted to finish some homework early.” Kiku shrugged, putting the phone away and heading off to his room.

Chapter done!

%MCEPASTEBIN%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: This feels so crappy, but I don't know how to word it any better... D: Sorry...  
> Next chapter should be better, in terms of... Everything?  
> See ya~


	13. XIII

Lukas heard angered whispering when he was passing by the living room to meet with the other boys for the night. He didn’t stay to listen in, and wondered what was making the adults so angry.

He returned to the room to find Tino staring out the window with such a concentrated gaze, Lukas was surprised it hadn’t cut through the glass. Mattie and Alf were resting on one of the cots, hugging each other close as they dozed.

Lukas carefully walked over to the window next to Tino and tapped his shoulder, giving him a questioning look.

“Its… Nothing.” Lukas narrowed his eyes at how it had sounded like Tino wanted to say something else. “Thought I saw something big outside.”

Lukas didn’t respond, searching for the truth on Tino’s face but couldn’t.

He shrugged. “Okay, then.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Berwald kept close to Emil as they walked to the park together, where one of the cops, the scary pale one that said their name was Kastiel, said they would meet.

He still couldn’t understand why he felt uneasy about the cop, he was certain the man just looked scary, but he had to be a good guy, shouldn’t he? But it was something about his eyes that scared Berwald. They were too dead, but at the same time, it was like looking at a basilisk head on, petrifying anyone that dared to gaze upon him.

Berwald shook his head again, trying to get his thoughts on track. He had to believe the man was good. Why else would he be a police officer, if not to help people?

They had reached the park much earlier than when they were supposed to, so they could talk.

“Do you really think he has something important to tell us, Berwald?” Emil asked as they sat at a park bench by the parking lot.

_Dunno. Maybe?_ He signed back.

“What do you mean, maybe? Why don’t you think this could be a good thing?” Emil sounded like he was trying to convince both himself and Berwald that it was good news.

_If it was the other one, I’d be more…_ Berwald paused, thinking of an appropriate sign that came to him when thinking of the brown haired police officer they had met. _Happy about the news, I guess?_

It took a bit of time for Emil to respond.

“Why don’t you like this officer, Berwald?”

_Dunno… He. He scares me a bit._ Berwald signed slowly.

“But why? He’s someone who can help us find Tino!” Emil said, frowning at Berwald.

_I, I don’t know. He just does. I can still trust him, though._ Berwald signed. _I want him to find Tino too._

“Okay, whatever.” Emil sighed, looking out to the parking lot to see if the police car was there.

There weren’t many cars parked, only a beaten up minivan and a shiny new black car, a small family of three just getting in to return home.

Berwald blinked when Emil nudged him, pointing to the police car parking beside the minivan, and the two stood up, waiting for the cop to see them.

He was surprised when the man came out with a wicked grin as he gestured to the minivan, and three men opened the doors. His surprise turned to fear as he recognized one of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emil backed away from the cop, wide eyed as he saw three other adults walk out of the car besides the police car, all with looks that chilled his spine.

He sensed Berwald also back away, much faster until he heard his friend’s steps stop suddenly.

The men began to fan out, and the two boys bolted, unknowingly running farther into the trap. They kept running, out of the park and into the streets, until they hit a dead end, and by then, Emil found the only exit was covered by the men and the cop.

“Wh-who are you? And what do you want?” Emil asked, grabbing Berwald’s shirt sleeve for some kind of reassurance.

“Seems your mute friend might know.” A man that resembled the cop smirked at the boys as they got closer.

Emil glanced over at Berwald, searching for an answer in his eyes. He saw his friend looking back at him terrified. Emil felt his throat dry as he turned back to the adults, the dark haired man within reach as he and Berwald were flat against the wall of the alley.

“Get away from us!” Emil shouted, hoping for some miracle that someone was nearby.

“No use, no one’s around for blocks.” The cop said, or more sneered at Emil.

Emil shut his eyes tight as the men reached for him and Berwald before he heard a shout.

“Step away from those boys now and put your hands up.”

Emil let go of the breath he had when he heard the other cop, Toris, shout from the entrance of the alley, and he opened his eyes, seeing several cops pointing guns at the men next to Toris.

Toris was able to get the three men handcuffed no problem, but the other cop was a bit more difficult. He was able to slip away before a couple cops grabbed him and held him down.

“I should have figured out what you were doing wasn’t for the boys’ interests, Kas.” Emil heard Toris mutter to his partner. “All those times you said you wanted the case by yourself, is this what you did?”

Emil saw the other cop growl, but couldn’t hear a proper response as he and Berwald were taken away from the alley by a couple of cops, sitting with them at the edge of the sidewalk.

“Do you recognize any of those men, dear?” One lady asked Berwald. Emil guessed they knew about the first time Berwald had almost been kidnapped.

Berwald nodded, before motioning to Emil to translate.

“Oh, he says, uh, he recognized the tall guy. He was the one who, ah, chased him last time.” Emil said.

“So they must be the same people that had taken your friend.” The other cop suggested. “We might be able to figure out a way to save your friends, boys, if it doesn’t take long to get information.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Sorry for taking a long time to add a chapter, but I've been away for a while and also had writer's block before that... :P Luckily now we're somewhere I know where it'll go, so hopefully not a long pause between updates.


	14. XIV

Matthew wanted to cry. His entire lower back was on fire, and it felt like he was being torn apart from the inside.

But the man hated tears. Or maybe he loved it, because then he could choke Matthew until he passed out. And when Matthew passed out, his body hurt even worse when he woke up.

The man, who Matthew remembered was named Wilfred, was at least in his fifties but was as strong as a man in his twenties. He had dyed hair and piercings on his eyebrows and ears. There were times when Matthew would distantly wonder what Wilfred did that made him a regular client. He knew the cost was expensive even for one hour, but Wilfred was able to buy Matthew multiple times, seeming to be eager for more when he left.

Matthew gasped silently as a hand wrapped around his throat, terrified that he had let his tears slip, only to feel the hand push him down by his collarbone.

He let out a tiny grunt of pain before he obediently got to his knees, trying to hide inside himself.

As he felt Wilfred grab his hair, Matthew felt his mind disappear inside himself, his body going on autopilot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where the hell are they?” Tino heard Hain demand to Him. “They should have been back an hour ago at the latest.

“They’ll be here soon, stop fucking worrying.” He grunted. “And when they do, we’ll be able to have a set to sell. Nothing gets more customers than a trio of prepubescent workers that know each other. Intimately.”

Tino shivered at the implication. He had meant to hide out somewhere as he had no clients to see him for a while, and had no want to stay in the living room where the others were held, and had overheard Hain and Him talking.

“I just wish they would hurry up. I would love to see how our little slut would react to seeing his friends join him.” He could imagine the smile Hain had.

“Probably be the fucking thing to finally break him completely.” He said.

Tino ran up the stairs, afraid to hear more.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Sorry for short chapter... :s But things are starting to wrap up, and when I was writing this chapter before I thought it would be long enough. Whoops


	15. XV

Getting information out of the men that had been arrested was hard, but it seemed one was a little dumber than the rest, in Toris’s opinion.

The man in question, Allan Smith Toris found from the criminal database, had spilled quite a few secrets in anger. Toris and the other officers had learned there were a couple more men working with them, and they had a handful of kids. He was tight-lipped about why they would kidnap so many kids, and it made Toris feel uneasy.

“You going to be okay with that one, Toris?” An officer asked, nodding to the tall man held in the interrogation room.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. He can’t do much to me, none of them can.” Toris replied and walked into the room, gazing at the man.

“So, your friend had a lot to tell us before he shut up, you know.” Toris commented, inwardly smiling at the eyebrow that lifted.

“Did he? Who he?” The man had a very monotone voice, his entire being seeming to be deadpan.

“That, uh, dark haired friend of yours, I believe his name was Allan Smith?” This got a bigger response as the man’s face sparked with emotions quickly before he reined them in. “I take it he wasn’t supposed to tell us his first name, then? Finding his last name was easy with the database we have. He’s kept his nose clean for years after an attempted assault, but I guess it couldn’t last.”

The man scowled. “If he already told you everything, why are you talking to me? I have nothing to say.”

“Really? Because I think you do. Why were you and your friends trying to catch more kids?”

“More kids? Like we need…” The man stopped and narrowed his eyes at Toris. “What the hell are you going on, ‘more kids’?”

“So, you do have more kids with you. Mr. Smith let that slip. How many more children do you and your friends have?”

“Didn’t the idiot already tell you?” He growled.

“Actually, that was when he grew cold feet and shut up. So, I’ll ask again, besides the brother of the one you tried to kidnap, how many other kids have you taken?” Toris asked, hoping he was pressuring the man enough.

The man scoffed. “You’ll never know.”

Toris narrowed his eyes before sighing. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to find up when we find your other friends that are still with them. At least Mr. Smith told us how many of you were working together.”

“He sold out the other two?” The man straightened before frowning when Toris split into a grin.

“There are two more men?” Toris asked. “Your friend only told us there were others with the kids, not how many. Thank you for helping.”

“Fuck you.”

“Nah, I think I’ll leave that for someone else. So, there are five of you who are normally with the kidnapped kids, and add my ex-partner, six kidnappers. Am I correct?” Toris asked, but the man didn’t so much as blink. “Quiet again, are we? Well, I might as well ask one last question.

“What are you doing with the kids you kidnapped?” He leant forward, eyes hard and glaring at the man.

The man just blinked at him, and after several minutes, Toris gave a heavy sigh and stood up, leaving the room.

The officer was still there, an eyebrow raised. “Wasn’t he a chatty Cathy?”

“Yeah, but he still helped us a bit. Did Mr. Smith ever tell us the names of the others?” Toris asked.

“He told us names, but not if they were here or wherever those poor kids are.”

“Oh? Well, what are the names? We might be able to find them on the database or ask the other district police if they know.”

“Well, he said many names, possibly including the names of the kidnapped teens. Our officers heard him talk about Lukas and Tino once or twice.” Toris’s eyebrows rose. “And he also said a couple others like Loki and Matt. But we don’t know who those two would be.”

“Hmm, what was he saying when he talked about them?”

“Just that Matt would be able to kill anyone who tried to stop them, and that Loki would, uh.” The officer looked over their notes. “That Loki would ‘be able to get out of here faster than one could blink’ or something.”

“So Loki is one of the men here. Maybe the Matt person is the one we just met, or will the kids wherever they are.” Toris sighed, wishing they had something to go on that could actually help the who-knew how many kids that are trapped somewhere. “But before I go talk to the last man, I’m going to check the names.”

“Yes, sir. Should I go to the captain to tell him what we found out from the men already interrogated?” The officer asked.

“Yeah, tell Ivan everything we know so far.” Toris said as he started to walk to the database computer.

It took about half an hour before Toris found anything in the database. He had been checking the people with the name Loki when he found a familiar face of the third man that they had held. Loki Bonde; had previously been charged with being in possession of child pornography but had gotten bailed out by an unknown man a couple states over.

When he searched for the name Matt, he found nothing that could help. There were many people named Matt in every state that had committed various crimes, as well as many Matt’s that had been kidnapped within the past couple decades.

Toris halted his searches after passing the thirty first page of Matts. He stretched and stood up, blinking quickly before heading back to the interrogation rooms for the last man, Loki.

“So, I assume your name is Loki?” Toris asked, hoping to trip the man before he could try.

It worked, as Loki’s face became guarded, telling Toris all he needed.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Bonde, now, I have a few questions that your colleagues have answered already.”

“If they told you everything, why even ask me?” Loki glared.

“Because, they seem to have differing sides. Your friend, Allan, said there were two men holding the kids you have already kidnapped somewhere. Your other buddy said there was only one man with them. How can one man keep so many kids quiet by himself?”

“What are you talking about? It’s not like there’s ten kids, it’s only four sluts.” Loki snarled when he realized what he had said. “You fucker.”

“Four children? Why do you have four children held prisoner?” Toris took it as good luck to have one of them finally tell them numbers before he inwardly froze at the wording Loki had for the kids.

“Like you need to know. You’ll never find them. By the time you learn where we were, they’ll be long gone.” Loki smirked.

“Really? Let’s test that theory, shall we? Tell us where they are held and we’ll see if they really are gone.” Toris said, eyebrow raised.

“Good try, coppy, but I’m not saying shit.” Loki leant back with a smirk still on his face.

Toris took a few moments before shrugging. “Alright, I guess I’ll just send some of my officers to the house now. Mr. Smith was feeling talkative and told us the street already. I was just seeing if you would be so kind to contradict him.”

“He told you about the cottage? Bullshit. It’s in the middle of nowhere. You’ll never find it.”

“Oh, really? Because I think we just might.” Toris smiled as he stood, leaving Loki in the room.

As soon as he left the room, he slumped, chuckling softly.

“We’re getting there. Hopefully the others know a bit more. We just need the number or something and then we’ll save them.” He muttered, heading to Ivan’s office to give him an update.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: I think this is the first time I wrote Matt's name, instead of writing HIM or that. Fun, that took forever to write.  
> Well, getting closer to rescue missions. I also hope this chapter is good and makes sense. It feels a little quick to have the police learn so much already, but hey. Maybe I should just tell that cynical side that it's my story and I can do what I want?  
> Anyway, see ya!


	16. XVI

The other three never came back for the night, and the other three teens were starting to feel how tense the two adults were. Tino had tried to remain ignorant but when Mattie also commented it quietly, he decided to talk to them when they were ordered to bed.

“What do you mean, you know why they left?” Lukas asked, sitting beside Mattie and Alf across from Tino.

“I, uh, overheard them that time that weird ‘friend’ of theirs came by. I heard a name that was very familiar to me, and when I was listening, I realized they were people I knew. They were talking about two of my close friends, and from the way they were talking, it sounded like they wanted them as well.” Tino rushed in his explanation. “And then recently I overheard them again and I knew they were trying to catch them, and I bet that’s where the others left this morning. They must be trying to kidnap Emil and Ber.”

“Woah, there, Tino, slow down.” Alf said. “You think they’re after your friends? Wouldn’t that mean we’re close to where you live?”

Tino’s eyes widened at the idea, before he slumped. “Maybe, but this must be farther than I’ve ever been.”

“Well, if they are after your friends, why are those two so on edge?” Alf asked, nodding to the door where Hain and Him were outside the room somewhere.

Tino shook his head, uncertain. “Dunno, maybe they are late?”

Lukas’s lips thinned as he thought. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow morning.”

With his statement, the other two went to the other cot, and Lukas sat by Tino. He whispered in his hair for several minutes when Tino felt he couldn’t sleep until he felt his eyes droop, and before he realized it, he was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matthew and the others woke up much later than normal, as no one came to yell at them to wake up. There was a strange silence in the house, and when Matthew shook Alf, he didn’t make a sound.

The four lay in the cots for several minutes before Lukas got up. He carefully padded to the door, looking back at the Matthew and the others as they watched him. Matthew stood up next as Lukas had his hand on the doorknob, the two hearing the others standing as well.

Matthew saw Lukas twist the knob and quietly opened the door, Matthew coming up beside him to see what Lukas saw.

There was no one from Matthew’s window of sight. The hallway was empty, a weird sight since there was no place in the house that was normally empty besides the teens’ room when they were working.

Lukas stepped out of the room first, Matthew and the others right behind. They searched the entire floor but found no one.

It was when they were at the top of the stairs did they hear a creak below them. The four froze before they saw lights outside. Bright, coloured lights.

“What?” Alf whispered, and just like that, the silence ended as they saw Him bound up the stairs, eyes locked on them as if he knew they had been there from the start.

He took Lukas and Alf by the hair, glaring at Matthew and Tino before marching them downstairs to where Hain was.

“Why didn’t we try to leave last night, you asshat?” Hain hissed when He returned with the teens.

“Because I didn’t think those shitty assholes would snitch on us so soon.” He grunted back, pushing Lukas and Alf to Hain before grabbing Tino and Matthew by the hair this time. “Now help me with the rest of the plan.”

Hain nodded and Matthew wanted to whimper at the pain of Him pulling his hair, as if He wanted to pull the scalp as well. He and Hain took the four teens by the hair and pulled them to a bedroom, Hain momentarily letting go of Alf to pull a book. Matthew was surprised to see the bookcase slide to the side, revealing a very small space, like it would normally hide a few boxes. Hain and He practically threw the teens into the room.

“You do not make a sound, or else you will regret how short your life will be. Got it?” He glared them down, and Lukas nodded quickly.

He grunted and the two adults shut the bookcase on them, leaving them in almost complete darkness except for one slit at the bottom.

Matthew looked at the other three as well as he could, distantly surprised all four could fit more or less in the small space.

“What’s going on?” Alf whispered again after the room outside became quiet again.

“Dunno, but shh, they might be nearby still. Maybe it’s training or something.” Lukas whispered back, but he didn’t sound convinced with himself.

“But those lights, it looked like police lights.” Tino whispered urgently. “Maybe they found us!”

Matthew frowned, not letting his hope up at the idea. It could have just been party lights or cop lights passing. There was no way they would be there for the four of them.

The four jumped at the front door crashing open, and suddenly they heard multiple people shouting. Matthew couldn’t understand what was being said, as the bookcase muffled quite a lot of the house.

They stilled when they heard what sounded like bangs and thumps, fearing what could be happening outside.

It must have been maybe ten painful minutes before Matthew heard a shout. “The kids must be here somewhere. Search for them.”

Matthew’s eyes widened and he heard Tino give a small gasp.

They were quiet as they heard loud footsteps go around them, before they heard them just in the room they had been in. They heard various shouts from all corners of the house, before they heard from the people in the room where the bookcase was.

“In there maybe?” They distantly heard, and footsteps passed their hiding spot.

Matthew wanted so badly to shout, but the threat that He had given them had caused him and the other two teens to lose their voices.

But it didn’t stop Tino.

“Hey! In here! Help!” He shouted, pounding on where the doorway must have been.

The footsteps paused before rushing to the bookcase, and they heard muttering.

“Hey, are you okay?” They heard another voice shout from the other side.

“Help! It’s really cramped in here! Get us out of here!” Tino shouted again, all but pushing his way out of the small place.

“Hang on there, we’ll get you out soon.” They heard a shout before muffled talking.

Matthew closed his eyes, hoping beyond hope that this was finally the day. His eyes shot open when they heard a slight click and the pushing Tino had on the door pushed it open, Tino stumbling over himself.

Matthew noticed Lukas help Tino push the door, and soon all four of them were pushing the door far enough to let them out, all four stumbling over themselves in front of several people.

“Oh my god, did they?” One man said, but Matthew couldn’t care less.

The people were police officers, and the other adults he had known were nowhere to be seen.

Chapter done


	17. XVII

Lukas was hovering over the other three teens as the police officers talked to them all. He hadn’t meant to feel so protective of the three, but whenever they were around a large group of adults, he always had a bad feeling, since his feelings were normally right. But even though he had no bad feeling now, he was hovering because of habit.

He barely listened as the officers talked to them, just hearing snippets of how ‘the men are in custody,’ and that they just needed names.

“Which names?” Alf asked.

“Well, your names and the mens’ names, if you can.” A young female officer said, her blonde hair pulled into a small ponytail.

“Well, the mens’ names are Hain and Him.” Alf said, not noticing the odd looks he received.

“Him? Who’s him?” The woman asked, her green eyes gazing curiously at Alf.

“We, uh, I don’t know. He’s just… Him.” Alf shrugged sheepishly.

“We never learned his name. All the others we knew, but his was a mystery.” Tino piped in.

“Really? Why would his name be…?” She asked, seemingly to herself more than to the teens. She shook her head before looking back at the teens. “Well, now that we have that, may we know what your names are?”

“I’m-” Tino was about to speak when Lukas cut in.

“He’s Tino, and those two are Alf and Mattie.” He said. “I’m Lukas.”

“So you’re Lukas?” She looked him up and down with a slight smile. “You do look like him.”

Lukas narrowed his eyes and frowned. The woman smiled again and shook her head.

“I think you’d want to see for yourself. Oh, before I forget, I’m Elise Vogel.” She introduced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*A couple hours later*

Tino saw a hairstyle that made his heart stop and he pushed past the others and bolted to his best friend. He didn’t realize he was running too fast until he crashed into Ber, jumping on him with a hug. The boy gave a silent _oof_ but Tino didn’t care. He was sobbing into Ber’s neck, afraid that if he let go of him, Ber would disappear like in all his nightmares.

But he didn’t disappear. Ber was right in front of him, and a couple feet away was Emil. He couldn’t understand why he was there until he saw Emil’s parents grip his hand and pull him into the crowd where the older teens were. He distantly remembered a conversation he had had with Lukas about his friends, and wondered if he had thought correct.

When he heard a shout of joy he somehow knew he had been correct.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlos and Kiku had been called into the vice Principal’s office, and neither knew what they had done. Both were looking at each other in confusion as they waited to be brought into the VP’s office.

When they entered, they were surprised to see their parents sitting in the room, Carlos’ family looking apprehensive, while Kiku’s family seemed to be distant, not showing anything.

“The police have called your families, to, well… Why I don’t let them explain?” The Vice Principal said, sitting back with a blank expression.

“Carlos, they police called us just under an hour ago. They said it was because you were the only name he could remember.” His mother said quickly, rushing the words out. “He couldn’t remember his own last name but remembered yours, and when the police called we knew you had to know.”

“What do you mean? Woah, what are you saying?” Carlos asked, interrupting the babble his mother normally did when she was nervous.

“They found him, Car. They found Matthew and you were the only name he knew.” His father said solemnly.

Carlos and Kiku gaped at their families.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matthew and Alf stuck together as many adults and a few other kids surrounded the four of them. But then Tino ran out of the circle with a cry and Lukas was cut off by a small family of three, a kid around Tino’s age among them.

Other adults approached the two, but stopped several feet from them when they huddled closer together.

A man with long brown hair took a step forward, his face kind and open and unlike any man either boy had seen in years. He gave off a friendly feel and the two eyed him warily as he approached.

“Hello, my name is Toris. I was one of the people who were able to find all you boys before it was too late. I must ask, now, though, which one of you is Matthew and which one is Alfred?”

Matthew glanced at Alf quickly before looking back at the man, Toris.

“I’m Alfred. Why do you ask?” Alf asked, sounding puzzled.

“I, well.” Toris seemed confused by the question. “You both look remarkably similar in appearance. It is a bit difficult to tell who is who.”

“What? We don’t look alike. He’s totally different from me.” Alf said sensibly. “He has longer hair, for one, and cool eyes and has been here way longer than me.”

“Ah, of course. Sorry.” Toris said, looking uncertain.

“Who is everyone?” Matthew asked.

“I’m sorry?” Toris’s face scrunched as he cocked an ear closer to them. “I don’t believe I heard you, Matthew?”

“He said who is everyone here?” Alf said, glancing at Matthew quickly as he spoke.

“Well, there are the family members of Lukas, because his younger brother had nearly been kidnapped by some of the men that had taken you, and the family of a close friend of Tino, who had also almost been kidnapped with the younger brother. The rest are my colleagues that I had put on the case to find all the boys that had been kidnapped by these men.”

Matthew and Alf stayed silent, listening to Toris speak.

“Now, we do not have you files, as I believe you were not around our area when you were taken, but if we know your names we may know where your families are so we may contact them.” Toris said.

Alf looked at Matthew, a question in his eyes. Matthew had nearly forgotten his name, having rarely said it even before he was taken, and he could tell Alf had the same problem.

Matthew turned back to Toris and spoke as well as he could, surprised by how rusty it felt.

“We.” He winced as his voice was louder than he thought, afraid someone was going to slap him for speaking. “We don’t know. I…” He paused as a name came to him along with the blurry edges of a face he thought he had forgotten. “Carlos Machado. That’s the only name I remember from before.”

“Same. I can’t remember my name besides Alfred. But… I do remember a name. He was my best friend I think. Kiku Honda or something.” Alf said.

Toris nodded, taking out a notebook and scribbling something down, and smiled softly at the two.

“I hope we find your families soon, boys.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Sorry this chapter is a little all over the place.  
> Glad to know Mattie and Al still can't tell that they are related.  
> Things might just be wrapping up, folks. Be prepared.


	18. XVIII

Kiku called the Kirklands again, impatiently waiting for the phone to be answered as he and his family drove a couple cities away where they had been told held Alfred and the other kids who had been rescued.

Finally he heard someone answer on the other line.

“Hello?” It was a young voice, making Kiku blink in confusion.

“Uh, hai, this is Kiku, I’m looking for either Arthur or Francine Kirkland? Are they there?” He asked.

“Oh, yeah, wait a sec.” The boy said before Kiku heard the phone being moved and heard a distant call for the boy’s dad.

The phone was moved again and Kiku heard Arthur speak over the line.

“Yes, this is Arthur. How may I help you?”

“Hai, this is Kiku again. I’m sorry for occupying your time, but this is very important.” Kiku said.

“Ah, Kiku, hello again. What is so important, my boy?” Arthur asked.

“My family had just been informed that a couple cities from where I now live, the police have found a few kidnapped kids, and one knew my name, and his name is Alfred.” Kiku spoke quickly and was met with utter silence over the line before he heard the phone clatter.

He couldn’t tell what was going on at the Kirkland residence, so listened.

“Dad? Dad! What’s wrong?” He heard the boy call.

“Peter, call your mother, we need to go.” Kiku heard Arthur speak quickly before the phone was moved, and he heard Arthur more clearly. “Kiku, may you please tell me what city he is in?”

Kiku gave the police station name and city, and Arthur said he would get his family there as soon as was possible.

* * *

 

Carlos had an easier time getting into contact with the Bonnefoys, and his family along with them were driving to the city as fast as was legal. He had almost forgotten how his childhood friend’s father looked, and watched how he took everything.

Francis was trembling slightly, and Carlos wondered if he was scared to see his son again or if he was worried Mattie wouldn’t remember him. He felt for the older man, and was just as jittery as him.

“Are you certain it is Matthieu? Mon Matthieu?” Francis asked again.

“As sure as we can be. They said he knew my name, and from what they told my parents, he matches from when we were younger.” Carlos replied.

“Oh mon dieu, I hope it is him.” Francis sighed, gazing at the ceiling of the car.

* * *

 

Carlos and Kiku got to the city within minutes of each other, and got to the police station around the same time. Kiku noticed the blond man that was with Carlos’s family and wondered if it was the father of the other boy. The man looked wary of the station, but also determined, and he wondered if that was how the Kirklands’ were as well.

They walked into the station together, and were met with a small woman with a ribbon in her hair.

“Ah, uh, may I assist any of you?” She asked kindly, seemingly surprised by how many people were there.

“Si, uh, we’re looking for…” Carlos began before he trailed off.

“There were kidnapped children held here, oui?” The blond man spoke, a slight accent in his voice.

“Oh. Oh! Yes, are you the families they knew?” She asked.

“Hai, we are.” Kiku said, and the woman smiled kindly at him before asking them to wait a few moments.

She returned with another police officer, a man with light brown hair and a surprised look when he saw the small crowd in the waiting room.

“The boys have asked to only see their friends as of right now, so maybe the rest of you can wait here still.” He said.

Kiku saw the blond man look like he was about to speak but Carlos’s father put a hand on his shoulder. Kiku and Carlos left with the two police officers until they reached what Kiku believed to be an interrogation room.

“We had no other place to leave the boys where they felt safe, and they said they couldn’t handle large groups.” The man said as they stopped in front of the room. “The boys have been through a lot.”

He opened the door and ushered the teens in, and Kiku froze when he saw them. They looked identical, with only a couple of differences.

The two looked up at them, at first with blank looks before one shot up from his chair and a hand shot out to grab Kiku.

“I.” He said, and Kiku was surprised to hear how deep his voice had gotten. “Kiku?”

“Alfred?” Kiku responded, taking in the teen’s face closely.

He was so different, and yet still looked familiar from when Kiku had last seen him eight years. His eyes were duller than when he was younger, but still reminded Kiku of the sky on a clear day. His hair seemed to have darkened, but that one cowlick he had was still defying gravity. His face had lost the childlike look Kiku remembered, and he was much taller than Kiku, which surprised him.

“Wow. You haven’t changed.” Alfred gave a small smirk, causing Kiku to redden. “You look just like when we were younger. Oh my god.”

“You, on the other hand, have changed a lot. When did you get so tall?” Kiku asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I dunno, really.” Alfred rubbed his neck sheepishly.

While Kiku and Alfred talked, Matthew and Carlos stood by each other a little awkwardly, unsure how to speak. Unlike the other two, Carlos and Matthew had not been able to talk to each other much when Matthew had been taken.

“You don’t look like you changed, Mattie.” Carlos commented, looking him up and down. “But at the same time, you seemed to have grown up a lot.”

Matthew looked surprised but didn’t speak. He looked down at himself before looking Carlos in the eyes.

“You know, we have your dad here. My family brought him with us so we could all see you.” Carlos said.

At this Matthew snapped his head back up, eyes wide as he searched Carlos’s face.

“Papa?” His voice was very soft, as if unused to speaking, and Carlos saw Matthew seem to age backwards, looking much younger than he was.

“Yeah, he’s here, and I’m pretty sure he’s dying to see you again.” Carlos gave Matthew an encouraging smile.

Matthew nodded before turning to Alfred and pulling on his shirt, whispering in his ears.

“Really? Okay, since he’s here.” Alfred shrugged, but Carlos felt some apprehension coming off him.

“Don’t worry, Alfred, your family is on their way. You’ll see them soon.” Kiku said, putting a friendly hand on Alfred’s arm.

The two blonds nodded and they had the officer outside get Matthew’s father.

“Toris, we heard that Mattie’s dad is with them. He really wants to see him again.” Alfred told him, the officer nodded and left.

It was quiet for a minute before the door opened again and Francis entered the room. He looked between the two blonds quizzically, as if unsure who was who.

But then his eyes cleared as they rested on Matthew, and he strode to him shakily, reaching out to hold him. Matthew seemed to tense up and would have shuffled back in Carlos hadn’t been beside him.

“Oh, Matthieu, is that really you?” He asked, stopping a couple feet away from the blond.

The tenseness in Matthew disappeared as he heard Francis speak, and he walked towards him, just staring at him before giving him a really big hug.

“Papa.” He whispered, clinging to his father’s back.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: I think a few more chapters before an epilogue to say what happened to everyone later. This is now just them finding their families and everyone reacting to what happened and all the nice stuff.


	19. XIX

Lukas felt overwhelmed. He was finally free, and back with his parents, and finally met his little brother.

He was cautious around Emil because he reminded Lukas of Tino, whom he found out, was close friends with Emil.

It had been a couple weeks since they were saved, and Lukas was trying to get to know his brother, but Emil seemed to dislike being around him. It hurt to see his brother shy away from him, and he wished he knew what to do.

It was when Tino came over that the brothers finally talked to each other.

“Come on, Emil. Lukas has been trying to talk to you since we were saved. He knows nothing about you.” Tino said, sitting between the brothers.

Emil shifted in his seat, not meeting Lukas in the eyes.

“Just tell us what’s up, please, Emil?” Tino asked.

“It’s just… I never had a brother.” Emil said with a sigh. “I never had to learn what having a brother was like, and Mom and Dad never talked about him, even when I asked about the room. I don’t know what to do about suddenly having this person suddenly come into this house and say he’s my brother.”

Lukas was silent, feeling hurt by what Emil said. He frowned and looked at Tino, unsure how to speak.

“Hey, okay.” Tino spoke slowly as he seemed to be thinking. “Then we can go off from there. Lukas has been like a big brother to all of us when we were together, since he was both the oldest and had been taken the longest. Mattie was also like him. Lukas understands how to be a brother, but since you thought you were like an only child, you don’t know, Emil. But let him try.”

“Why? He’s too old to be like my brother anymore.” Emil said, refusing to look up from his lap.

“Emil.” Lukas said in a tone he had never used before, and Emil looked up worried. “Just because I’m older doesn’t mean we can’t learn about each other and try to be brothers. I want to know about you and I want to know what growing up was like.”

“You want to know what growing up is like? Didn’t you grow up?” Emil frowned.

“No, I didn’t. By the time I was twelve, I went from a scared little kid, to a prostitute. I didn’t get to grow up, and neither did Mattie or Alf. We were forced to do things that no child should be put through, and there were times I was sure one of us were going to be killed while working. I don’t know what it’s like not having to be forced to grow up like that.”

Both Tino and Emil were silent and Emil looked paler than usual.

“They… They never said what happened to you except you were kidnapped by several men.” He muttered.

“That’s because I want to forget it. But I can’t, because all I’ve ever known was that. I can barely remember the day I was kidnapped, I still feel like my parents aren’t my parents because I can’t remember their faces, even though they are now in the next room.

“But I still want to know what it would have been like. What it still might be like.” Lukas’s voice became soft as he continued to speak, hoping to get his brother to understand. “That’s why I want to get to know you, that’s why I keep trying to talk to you. I don’t know anyone around here besides Tino, and I want to know you, Emil.”

Emil bit his lip before looking back up at Lukas. “I guess I could try to see what having a big brother is like.” He muttered, and Lukas smiled widely.

He was finally going to learn about his little brother.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Lukas would probably be the first to talk openly about his experiences. He's gone almost numb to them because he's been forced through all that for at least a decade.


	20. XX

Alfred remained with Mattie on his friend’s request while they waited to meet Alfred’s family. He couldn’t remember much except he had a little brother about a couple years younger than he was. He tried to remember his name, and the closest he could remember was that it started with a P.

It was a couple days after they met Francis when Alfred’s parents arrived with Kiku.

Alfred was happy to meet his childhood friend again, and had spent a lot of time that he didn’t spend with Mattie with Kiku.

There was a knock on the door and the three blonds went to the door, Francis opening the door while the teens stood behind, Alfred leaning against Mattie.

The door widened as Francis allowed the people in, and Kiku was the first to enter.

“Hello. Alfred, remember your family?” Kiku said, gesturing behind him.

Alfred paused as he looked over the three people in front of him. The man seemed to have his wild hair that never stayed in place with green eyes like the new grass outside. He seemed to look stiff, but his face was gentle and open and familiar to Alfred.

The woman standing right beside him also looked familiar. She had darker hair, but very pretty dark blue eyes. She also had some features that reminded him of Mattie, like her wavy hair and the shape of her face.

The boy that stood in front of his parents didn’t look familiar at all. He knew he had a brother, but had forgotten his face. He looked very similar to their dad, but his eyes were like their mother’s.

The woman cried out and flung her arms over Alfred as soon as she saw him, clinging to him as he heard her sob.

“My baby is alive!” was the only sentence any of them could understand from her sobbing muffled mouth.

Alfred saw his father look between him and Mattie, who stood off to the side with Francis to watch the family reunion with the ghost of a smile.

He saw his dad than go up to Francis and talk to him.

“I have to ask, did you adopt Matthew when he was born?” Matthew, Francis and Alfred looked at him bewildered before Francis nodded.

“Oui. But why do you ask such a strange question?” Francis asked.

“Well.” Alfred’s father rubbed his neck, a habit that Alfred realized he had gotten from him. “You see-”

“Dad’s asking because when Alfred was born, he had a twin but they couldn’t afford both so they had to give one up.” Alfred’s brother piped in, not seeming to notice the glare their father gave him.

“To put it bluntly, I suppose.” He muttered, continuing to glare at the boy.

Alfred stayed where he was, trapped by the sobbing woman until his dad gently removed her, and she slowly stopped crying.

“I think we should talk in the living room. Follow me?” Francis gestured and the group followed him to the living room.

Mattie and Alfred sat next to each other for support, with Kiku sitting next to Alfred as well. Alfred’s family sat across from Francis, his brother looking bored already.

The adults began talking, and Alfred unknowingly zoned out, just watching the family he hadn’t seen since he was eight. He leant slightly on Kiku as he watched his family talk, not really caring about what they said.

He was finally saved.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Francine would be able to tell which twin was which because maternal instincts.  
> Also, sorry for cruddy way to end a chapter, but next chapter will be the epilogue showing what happened to all the teens. It's a big timeskip, just saying.


	21. Epilogue

15 years later

It took the four teens a while to get readjusted to living without pleasuring people again.

Lukas was allowed to be home-schooled by his parents and brother before he wanted to go to an adult education school when he was twenty one. He loved the idea of knowledge and wanted to learn more and more, fascinated by mythology in particular. He met another guy his age that was equally fascinated, and had been together with him ever since. But he was wary about being intimate with the man, but Mathias was fine with it. Lukas worked as a researcher while his partner worked as a professor in the local university, teaching all kinds of mythos.

Matthew had an interesting time after he and Alfred met their parents. Finding out he and Alf were related by blood, and not only that, but they were twins, stunned him, and made him stick close to him, even pleading with Alf’s family to move closer. It might have been selfish, but Matthew didn’t care. His other only friends were far away and Alf was the only one left to him. But he was able to convince the Kirklands to move and Matthew and Alf were able to go to the same school with Kiku and Carlos. They were far behind everyone else, but Matthew strived to learn and in under a year, had caught up and even surpassed most of his classmates. He stuck with Alfred for years after, like a child would with a safety blanket. He found work as a vet, as he loved animals and hated being around other humans after everything that happened. He did, however, meet a good friend named Gilbert by being a vet, and somehow Matthew’s safety blanket became that man.

Alfred loved the sports, and when he and Kiku left out of state, he found his way playing professional football. Kiku stayed by his side throughout everything, and was the one to eventually ask to marry him. They had been married for several years, with Alfred playing football and Kiku starting his own bookstore. They loved being together, and were the ones to make plans to see the others every other year or so.

Having not been gone too long, Tino had the easiest time readjusting to living freely again. He finished school along with Emil and Berwald, but not before confessing to the mute. They had separated for a couple years after college before getting back together. They moved the farthest from the others because of work for Berwald as a chef at a deaf restaurant, while Tino was a freelance journalist. They were the ones who barely heard from the others, living so far away, but they were always there at those gathering the others planned.

None of them fared well mentally, though. They all had heavy trauma that only Lukas was fine with telling people. Matthew withdrew from many people, including Carlos after a time, and Alfred would still freak out when Kiku tried to get close to him.

But they lived, and lived as happily as they could. They found a place they belonged in, and felt the love they had been neglected for years.

Though, they weren’t happy when they found out, several years ago, that a couple of the men who had kidnapped them, Allan and Him, whom they finally learnt was called Matt, had been released with light probation. How that happened, no one knows, but none of those involved with the teens were pleased.

But they didn’t have to worry long, as within the past year, they found out those two had died of bizarre causes.

Finally, the teens were free. They grew up, and most forgot the fear of the men that took almost everything away.

They were alive again.

Story done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: This is a weird epilogue. But I wanted to try something different. Might have also been a bit annoyed with writing for this story and having things link to everyone else, so this was easier.  
> I hope I was clear on Lukas and Mattie. Because of their specific traumas(having been kidnapped the longest) they are sex repulsed. I don't know if that makes them Asexual, but I guess they are in the end. But only Mattie is also Aromantic. The other three have romances.  
> Bonus points to those who know the restaurant I vaguely mentioned. Even though Berwald isn't deaf, I think he would want to work at a place that was good with sign language.  
> I hoped you all enjoyed In A Cage. It was really interesting writing this story, and I think I really enjoyed writing it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll answer them.


End file.
